Seed-planter.



J. T. COMPTON.

SEED PLANTER. APPLICIATION HLED NOV- 9, 19:4.

1,168,859. Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

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SEED PLANTER.

I APPHCATIQN FILED NOV- 9, 1914- 1,168,859.. Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

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APPLICATlQN FILED. NOV 9, 1914- 1,168,859. A Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

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1 I annex/M01 J T. C 0M P TO N J. T. COMPTON.

SEED PLANTER. APPLICATION man Nov. 9, 1914.

1,168,859.. Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

. '4 SHEETS-SHEET 4. raw 8 5O 52 26 JOHN T. COMPTON, 0F LINEVILLE,ALABAMA.

SEED-PLANTER.

Application filed November 9, 191%.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that 1, Joan T. COMPTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lineville, in the county of Clay and State of Alabama, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Seed-Planters, of whichthe following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawm s.

ilhis invention relates to new and useful improvements in agriculturalimplements, and particularly to seed planting mechanism.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a machine whichmay be used either for planting corn or seeds of like character, or forplanting cotton.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of thischaracter which may be readily converted from a corn planter to a.cotton planter, or vice versa; and still another object or the inventionis the provisionv of a rotary seed planter operated by means of atraction or ground wlieel, said seed carrier being formed with aplurality of sets of seed pockets, and being shiftable so as to bringany one oi the several sets into operative position.

A. further object of the invention in this connection is to so constructthe seed carrier that it may be readily shifted by hand, and while themachine is moving over the ground, so as to permit the easy and quickregulation of the amount of seed discharged according to the fertilityof the soil.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of means wherebyonly a portion of any one pocket or series of pockets may be disposed toreceive seeds, so as to in crease or decrease the number of seedsdisposed in any pocket.

Still another object of the invention is the provision in connectionwith the rotary seed carrier first described of a seed carrierpeculiarly adapted for planting cotton either in rows or broadcast, andof an agitator which, when disposed within the seed carrier orcontainer, agitates the contents thereof, places the cotton seed overthe opening through which it passes to the cotton seed carrier, andobstructs the opening through which the corn passes to the corn dropperor carrier.

Still another object of the invention is to improve upon the details ofconstruction of mechanism of this character, adding to its Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. it), 391d.

Serial No. EMLAQL etficiency and economizing thecost of construction.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated. in the accompanying drawings, whereinFigure 1 is a side elevation of a seed planter constructed in accordancewith my invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation reverse to that of Fig. l,the planting mechanism and the container being shown in section; Fig. 3is a transverse sectional view on the line 33 of .Fig. 2; ig. lis anelevation of the seed carrier 11; Fig. 5 is a plan view looking towardthe bottom of the container; Fig. 6 is a detail view of the shield forclosing on the opening leading to the cotton seed planting devices; Fig.7 is a sectional view of the annulus 29 used in connection with the seedcarrier; Fig. 8 1s a detail top view of the traction wheel and its shaftwith the gear wheel and ratchet wheels thereon; Fig. 9 is a longitudinalsection of the rotatable carrier, its casing and a portion ofthe'container, showing the mechanism arranged for planting cotton seed;Fig. 10 is a section on the line 10-10 of Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a sectionon the line 1111 of Fig. 9; Fig. 12 is a plan view of the agitator, thecontainer being shown in section; Fig. 13 is a face view of another formof said carrier; Fig. 14 is a detail view of the shield 57 used inconnection with the seed carrier shown in Fig. ll.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and designated in the accompanying drawings by likereference numerals.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the frame of the machineincludes the longitudinally extending side bars 1, to the rear of whichare operatively secured the downwardly and rearwardly extending coveringblades 2, and to the forward portion of which are secured the upwardlyand rearwardly extending handles. These handles may be supported uponthe frame of the machine in any suitable manner, and may be arranged asis customary in walking seed planters and similar constructions. Theforwardend of the frame is supported upon the relatively large ground ortraction wheel 4 which is mounted in a suitable shaft journaled inhearings in the extremity of the frame, and which is provided with abeveled gear 5 which in turn meshes with a beveled Supported upon theframe of the cultivator in any suitable manner and between the side bars1 is a cylindrical casing 8 open at opposite ends and having each endenlarged as at 9 and 10, respectively. The intermediate portion of thecasing 8 is uniform in diameter, and disposed within this casing androtating therein is a cylindrical seed carrier 11. The cylinder 11forming the seed carrier is closed at one end as at 12 by a head, thishead being provided at its center with a squared aperture 13 into whichthe squared end of the shaft passes. The head 12 carries upon it andsurrounding this aperture the hub 14 having the nut 15 applied thereto.The cylinder 11 is rotated within the sleeve-like casing 8 by therotation of the shaft 7, and is longitudinally shifted with relation tothe casing by means of a lever 16 which is pivotally supported at therear of the frame, the lower end of the lever being adj ustablyconnected to a sector piece 17 which in turn is pivotally connected to alink 18 which extends forward and is bent around the end of thecylindrical casing and engaged with the hub 14 and behind the head ornut 15. The engagement of the link 18 with the head of the sleeve issuch that the sleeve may be readily turned or may be shiftedlongitudinally upon the oscillation of the lever 16.

As illustrated. the lever 16 is pivoted upon the upright 19, the upperend of which carries a toothed sector 20. The lever is provided with thecommon detent 21 engaging the teeth of the sector, this detent beingraised out of engagement with the sector teeth by means of the hand grip22. The sector plate 17 previously referred to is pivoted at its centerto the lower end of the lever, and the upper or larger end of the sectorplate is slotted as at 23. This slot is formed with corrugated walls anda bolt 24 passes through the lever through this slot-so as to hold thesector plate set in any desired relation to the lever. The urpose ofthis adj ustable sector late will later stated.

The rotatab e cylindrical carrier 11 is provided with a lurality of setsof seed pockets, designa 25. The several sets differ from each othermerely by the fact that the seed pockets are set farther apart or closertogether. In one set there is only one seed pocket; in another set thereare two seed pockets set diametrically opposite each other, and in thethird and fourth sets there are a still greater number of seed pockets.These several sets of seed pockets, depending upon the position of thecylindrical carrier 11, are adapted to receive the seed from the seedcontainer 26 through an opening 27 formed in the upper wall of thecasing 8, which upper wall, together with the wall 39 to be laterdescribed, forms the bottom of the container. The opening 27 has theform of an arcuate slot, a portion of this slot being closed by aresilient finger 28 whose end is enlarged so as to fit within the slot.This resilient finger yields to permit the passage of seeds which havebecome elevated within the pocket and which would be crushed were asolid wall presented to the advancing seeds. If the cylinder 11 is soshifted that the one seed pocket is brought into alinement with theopening :27, then as the cylinder revolves only one parcel of seeds willbe discharged for each revolution of the cylinder. If, however, thecylinder is so shifted that the set including two seed pockets isbrought into alinement with the opening 27, then two lots of seeds willbe deposited for each revolution of the cylinder, and so on. \Vhile I donot wish to limit myself to any specific ratio of movement between thedriving wheel 4 and the cylinder 11, I have illustrated the cylinder asbeing rotated at the same speed as the driving wheel, as this providesfor a convenient calculation b the operator as to the distance between pantings.

The seed pockets 25 extend entirely.

through the cylinder 11, and in order to prevent the seed dropping intothe interior of the cylinder I provide within the cylinder a circularshield .plate designated 29. This shield plate is supported on a. yoke30 in turn attached to or forming a part of a longitudinally extendingrod 31 which extends out through the rear end of the casing and throughthe rear end of the cylinder and is bolted or otherwise attached to across bar or bolt The annulus or shield plate 29 at one point of itscircumference is provided with an opening 34 which has a diameterslightly larger than the diameter of the seed pockets in the cylinder11, and projecting through this opening 34 is an ejecting stud 35, thelower face of which is rounded, this stud 35 being attached to a spring36 which in turn is attached to the shank 31. It will be seen now thatthis shield plate 29 forms the inside wall of the several pockets and inthe lower wall of the casing 8, the eject ing stud 35 will spring intothe seed pocket and force any seed contained therein out flanged to restupon an outward extending flange 38 carried upon and preferably formedintegral with the casing 8, this flange resting upon theenlargedportions 9 and 10 of the casing 8 The space on each side of the casing 8is inclosed by a wall 3!) having inwardly turned flanges 40 which extendto the surface of the "casing 8. A

false bottom 41 is detaohably mounted within the bottom of'the containerto prevent leakage of seed into the space on each side of the casing 8.The false bottom 41 has the form of an inverted frusto-cone which isprovided with an opening disposed in alinement with the slot 27 anddischarging thereinto.

An opening foot 42 is used for the purpose of opening a furrow intowhich the seed may be dropped, this foot being attached in any suitablemanner to the frame of the machine in advance of the planter mechanism,and from the casing 8 extends downward and forward a funnel or chute 43,whereby the seed may be guided into position immediately behind thefoot.

The operation of my device as a corn planter will be obvious from whathas gone before. The container 26 is to be filled with seed; theoperator then forces the planterforward and as the traction wheelrevolves the feed cylinder or carrier 11 will also be revolved and theseed pockets of one set of pockets will be brought successively to theopening 27, the seed will be carried around in the pocket until the oening 34 is reached, whereupon the seed wil be ejected by the ejector Asbefore stated, the number of plantings made within a certain distancemay be regulated by shifting the feedcylinder or carrier forward orrearward within the casing 8 so as to bring one or the other of the setsof ockets into alinement with the openings 2 and 34. Inasmuch as thecylinder is splined upon the shaft 7 it will be obvious that theoperator may shift the .lever 21 and thus shift the cylinder while themachine is in operation. Thus .he can at any time change the rate ofplanting without stopping the machine, so that this rate of planting maycorrespond to the fertility of the ground or other conditions whichrequire variations in planting.

In order to adapt my machine for the planting ofcotton seed, I provide afeed wheel or seed carrier 44 which is disposed within the enlargement10 in the casing 8 .and abuts against the vertical wall of thisenlargement. This'feed wheel is detachably mounted upon the rearextremity of the cylinder 11 by means of .set screws 45, the set screwspassing through the wall of the cylinder and engaging the annular feedmember 44 so as to hold it in place. This member is in the shape of acrown gear, that is, has a plurality of teeth 46 projecting in adirection parallel to the. axis of rotation.

Also carried upon .the cylinder 11 and ro-.

tating therewith is a beveled gear wheel 47 whose teeth intersect anopening formed in the bottom. ofthe container previously mentioned. Theagitator 48 is adapted to be disposed within the container and supportedfor rotation upon the casing 8, this agitator having an outsidediameternearly as large as the diameter of the container, and com prising adished plate 49 having'radially projecting fingers 50. A beveled gear.wheel 51 is formed upon the under face of the dished plate, and thisbeveled gear wheel is adapted to mesh with the beveled gear wheel 47when the agitator is in position. The' agitator is rotatably mounted bymeans of a bolt 52 upon a saddle plate 53, the extremities of which arelaterally bent as at 54, these laterally bent terminals being engaged byset screws 58 extending upward through the bottom of the housing on eachside of the casing 8.

By reference to'Fig. 5, it will be seen that the inwardly turned flangeat the lower end of the body of the container is cut away as at 56 andthat the wall of the enlargement 10 at the top of the. casing 8 islikewise out away '56 to correspond. Thus it will be seen that thebottom of the hopper, which is formed by the webs 39 and 40 and thecasI- f ing 8, is provided with an opening 56 whereby communication isestablished between the interior of the container and the seed carrieror dropper 44. The teeth 46 .on the feed member 44 pass beneath thisdistance required. The lower wall of the i enlargement 10 is cut away asat 59 to permit the dropping out ofthe seed into the chute 43.

It will be seen that where the device is i used as a cotton seed planterthe pockets formed in the cylinder 11 are not used and that thesepocketsand the opening through which the seed contained within the container isordinarily discharged into these pockets is closed by the agitator 48.The cotton seed is directed by the agitator down through the opening 56formed in the bottom of the container and upper wall of the enlargement10 onto the wheel 44 and is carried around by the teeth and thendropped.

Where it is desired to strew cotton seed instead of dropping it, a feedmember or carrier is used such as that illustrated in Fig; 13. This feedwheel or carrier is designated 60 and comprises an annulus having itsouter face formed with a series of teeth, one face of each tooth beinginclined.

While I have illustrated two forms of seed carrier members 44 and 60, Iwish it understood that other forms might be used and that severaldifferent forms may be readily interchanged whenever desired to vary themanner in which the seed is dropped or deposited. A shield plate 61 isused when the planter is in use to plant corn, this shield plate beinginserted through the frontwall of the container at the bottom thereofand extending over-the opening 56 the head 10 so as to prevent the seedfrom passing through this opening. Thisshield plate is held in place bymeans of ,a set screw 62 or in any other suitable manner.

, The purpose of the sector plate 23 is to provide for the adjustment ofthe link 18 and therefore of the feedcylinder 11 relative to the lever16. In the ordinary adjustment of the lever 16 a movement of the leverone tooth on the rack 20 will shift the cylinder 11 a distance justsuflicient to bring .one set of seed pockets into alinement withthe-discharge opening in the bottom of thecontainer and a furthermovement of the lever one tooth on the rack will .bring a sec- 0nd setof feed pockets into alinement with the opening. These feed pockets areformed of such area that a number of seeds will be contained in eachpocket, and in order to diminish the number of seeds which may bereceived in each pocket 'I provide the sector plate 23. By adjustingthis plate 23 the relation of the throw of the cylinder 11 and the throwof the lever 21 will be so varied that instead of a throw of the leverbringing a series of pockets into full registration with the openingleading to the container,

it will only bring it into half registration Or even-a less amount, soas to allow only a few seed grains or even just one grain alone to passinto any seed pocket. Thus the number of seeds to be planted may beapproximately controlled as well as the distance between plantings.

In order to force the seeds from between the teeth 46 on the annularcarrier 44, I preferably mount in line with these teeth and with thecarrier 44 a toothed wheel 63 which is loosely mounted upon a shaft andwhose teeth mesh with the teeth of the carrier 44 and push the seedscarried by the pockets formed between said teeth 46 downing of the seedmay be varied without stop: I

ping the planter and by simply adjusting the feed cylinder by means ofthe lever 21.

It will be obvious that when my device is I) used as a planter for cornor other seeds dropped at intervals, the pockets in the seed carrier 11will act to space the lots of seeds at predetermined distances apart,and in line with the furrow opener '42. When the seed dropper or carrier40 is used, however, the seeds will be dropped ina relatively thin andcontinuous line, the seeds in both instances being covered by the blades2 as the planter moves along.

While I do not wish to be limited toits use, I preferably mount upon theframe supporting the seed container and forward of the seed member aguano or fertilizer .hop-- per designated 64 and provide means whereby asmall amount of fertilizer may be distributed upon the ground with theseed; To this end I mount the hopper 64 pivotally upon the upper ends ofstandards 65 of any usual. or suitable construction, the pivotal axis ofthe hopper 64 being such that the nozzle66 which discharges intotheupper' end of the chute 43 and which is-provided with a sliding gageplate 67 which may be adjusted to reduce or increase the amount offertilizer discharged from the fertilizer hopper. The fertilizer hopperis oscillated by means of a downwardly and forwardly extending rod 68which at its lower end engages with a ratchet wheel 69 carried upon theshaft of the forward wheel 4 on the side of the wheel opposite from thegear wheel-5. This ratchet wheel upon a rotation of the traction wheel 4will jolt the hopper and shake the fertilizer therefrom. In order toprovide means whereby the hopper may receive a greater or a less numberof oscillations upon each rotation of the wheel 4, I preferably providea plurality of ratchet wheels 69, each being formed with differentlyspaced teeth and provide the lower end of the arm 68 with a hingedterminal end 70 which may beadjusted laterally so as to engage in one ofthe ratchet wheels, this terminal end being held in its adjustedposition by means of a nut or bolt 71.

It will be noted that the agitator is dished. The dished form of thisagitator is for the purpose of holding degenerate seed which alwaysworks to the bottom and center of the seed hopper. By carefully emptyingthe agitator several'ti'nies a day, the cotton seed will be very greatlyimproved in quality, that is, provided the seed does not get too low inthe container. When all seeds are to be planted from the container, acone made of tin or other suitable metal can be fastened to the agitatorso asto cover the pan formed by its depressed portion, thus causing allof the seed-to be caught in the teeth of theagitator and to be directedto the feeding outlet.

By providing means either for sowing, that is, scattering cotton seed,and means for dropping the seed, I provide for the necessary differencesin planting due to diii'erences in soil. Thus where the soil becomescrusted after planting, a relatively considerable amount of seed isnecessary to be planted in order to raise the crusted soil and un lessthe crusted soil is. so raised before the ground is thoroughly warm, theplants will die. In other cases, the cotton seed dropper is used whichshould be arranged to drop the seeds an inch and a half apart, thus notwo plants are jammed close to each other and this makes it easier tochop the cotton and further makes it possible to use a cotton choppingmachine.

It is, of course, to be understood that I provide means whereby thegearing may be thrown out of engagement with the driving gears .5 and 6when the machine is being shifted to or'from place where the seed is tobe planted. Any suitable mechanism may be provided for this purpose, butI have illustrated in Fig. 1 a clutch 7 5 which is adapted to beoperated as usual by a shift rod under control of the operator.

WhileI have illustrated my invention as applied to a seed plantingmechanism which is adapted to be pushed, I wish it to be dis- I tinctlyunderstood that the same mechanism may be used in connection with ridingplanters of any variety.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: a

1. In a planting mechanism, a rotatable cylindrical seed dropper havinga circum- -ferentially extending series of seed pockets,

a casing inclosing the dropper and having a receiving opening and adischarge opening with which said pockets are adapted to register, anannular seed dropper carried upon one end of the cylindricaldropper/sand having a circumferential series of pockets, a container,and means whereby seed may be directed from the container either to thefirst named seed pockets or the second named seed pockets.

2. In a planting machine, a driving shaft,

a cylindrical member mounted upon the driving shaft for rotationtherewith, an annular seed dropping member mounted upon one end of thecylinder and having a circumferential series of pockets, a gear wheelmounted upon the shaft, a container having 1ts bottom cut away above thegear wheel and having an opening disposed over the annular seed droppingmember, and a rotatable agitator detachably mounted within the containerand having gear teeth meshing with the ear teeth on said gear wheel.

3. In a planting machine, a rotatable shaft, a cylinder mounted 'uponthe shaft for rotation therewith, a gear wheel formed at one end of thecylinder and through which the shaft passes, an annular seed droppermounted upon the other end of the cylindrical member, a containerdisposed over the cylindrical member and having an opening through whichthe gear wheel proects, and an opening registering with the seed dropperand an agitator detachably mounted within the container and meshing withsaid gear wheel.

4. In a planting machine, a rotatable cylindrical seed dropper having aplurality of circumferential series of pockets, a shaft it upon whichthe seed dropper is mounted for independent longitudinal movement butunitary rotation, an annular seed dropper detachably mounted upon oneend of the cylindrical seed dropper and having a circumferential seriesof pockets, a container mounted over the cylindrical seed dropper andextending over theannular seed dropper, said container having an openingabove the cylindrical seed dropper and an opening above the annular seeddropper, means for closing said last named opening, means adapted to bedisposed within the container for directing seed to one of said seriesof openings, and an agitator disposd within the container for rotationin a horizontal plane, said agitator being adapted to be operativelyengaged by and rotated with said shaft, said ast named means andagitator being interchangeable, and means for shifting the cylindricalseed container longitudinally along the shaft to bring any one of thedesired series of openings in operative posii the cylindrical casing andhaving a plurality of seriesof seed pockets, the seeddropper beinglongitudinally shiftable upon the casing to. thereby bring any .one ofsaid series of pockets into alinement with the.

dropper detachably mounted upon the end of the rotatable seed dropgerand when in place bearing against the ange of the' casing, saidsecond-named seed dropper being beneath the. opening on the margin ofthe container, means, for closing this marginal opening, a false bottomadapted to be disposedivithin the container and formed to direct theseed from the container to .the

receiving opening of the casing, and an agitator adapted to be disposedwithin the container and interchanged for the .false.

bottom and adapted to be engaged by the,

gear wheel.

6. In a planting mechanism, a seed container, a member forming thebottom of the container and having a receiving opening and including acylindrical casing having a discharge opening,-a web extending upwardfrom the casing and then flanged laterally to .the wall of thecontainer, the upwardly extending portion of the web defining a circularrecess of relatively large size, the outwardly directed flange of saidweb having a discharge opening, a cylindrical seedcarrier and droppermounted in the casing and carrying a gear wheel at one end, the floor ofsaid recess having an opening beneath which the gear wheel is disposed,said seed carrier coacting with the discharge opening in the casing, adrivingshaft operatively connected with the cylindrical dropper andcarrier, an annular dro per and carrier mounted u on the opposlte end ofthe cylindrical rapper and disposed beneath the second named dischargeopening, and a dish-shaped imperforate agitator adapted to be detachablymounted upon said casing to form the bottom of the container and extendacross the recess of said bottom member and prevent.

passage of seed therethrough and having radial armsextending out to thewall of the container and acting to direct the seed to the second nameddischarge passage.

7 In aplanting mechanism, a seed conenlarged and-the last nameddischargeiopen-r ing being d-isposed above said enlargement,

a cylindrical seed dropper 'mountedlwithin the casing and having-a. gearwheel at one endand provided with seed receiving pocketsjcoactingwithjthe first named seed discharge opening, an annular seed dropper.also mounted upon the cylindrical dropper and disposed within saidannular enlargement of the casing, a shaft operatively connected to anddriving the cylindrical dropper, means for closing the opening into theannularenlargement of the casing, a tachable conical false bottomadapted to be disposed within the relatively large recess .in the bottommember of the container and havin a central discharge openingregistering with the receiving opening and coacto ening to direct seedthereto, and a detac a le rotatable agitator interchangeable with said'false bottom adapted to be mounted upon said cylindrical portion of thecasing and having a diameter equal to the diameter of the recess in thebottom of the container,

said agitator having radially directed finrs moving over the laterallydirected ange of the upstanding web and thereby adapted when employed todirect the seed to the opening in said flange, said agitator beingengaged and driven by the gear wheel.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

JOHN T.' COMPTON.

W'itnesses:

W. H. Rmnocn, A. L. Lanos'rox.

ing with the first named seed 'dischar e

